Arena Football League

The Arena Football League is on the brink of folding and declaring bankruptcy, an inglorious end for the 22-year-old indoor league that has gone through a year of turmoil. James Guidry, the regional director of the AFL players association, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that it "seems to be inevitable at this point" that the AFL will soon announce it has ceased operations. Guidry said the players association will accept the owners' decision.

Ed Manning never saw it coming. He was a 58-year-old umpire in the Arena Football League, working a game between the Iowa Barnstormers and Orlando Predators on May 1, 1999, when he was accidentally blindsided by an Iowa player. Two more players tripped over Manning as he lay unconscious. "When he hit me from the side, it catapulted me backward," Manning said. "I was actually out on my feet when he hit me, so I couldn't reach back to break my fall. My head hit off the turf."

After 21 years of expanding and shrinking, adapting and morphing, the Arena Football League is weighing the possibility of something new: Taking a breather. Against a backdrop of a weakened economy and mounting financial losses -- and belt-tightening even by the NFL and other professional sports leagues -- the AFL is considering suspending its 2009 season. It hasn't happened yet, however.

The Arena Football League canceled its 2009 season Monday pending an agreement with its players' union. The decision throws the future of the 22-year-old league into question just days after it said next season had not been suspended. The AFL's owners voted against playing next year during a conference call Sunday night. It was unclear what had changed since the league issued a statement Wednesday night that said the 2009 season had not been suspended "despite rumors and reports to the contrary."

On Thursday, the Colorado Crush and Philadelphia Soul will play an Arena Football League game at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, and the best-known personalities connected to the matchup are the teams' owners. John Elway, a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, is co-owner of the Crush. Jon Bon Jovi, a musician and actor, is co-owner of the Soul. Elway's Crush won ArenaBowl XIX in 2005 and he has been associated with the league since his team's inaugural season in 2003.

Arizona Rattlers quarterback Sherdrick Bonner is the Arena Football League's equivalent of Dan Marino. In 14 seasons, the former Cal State Northridge passer has thrown for 40,979 yards and 829 touchdowns, and is among the most popular players in league history. Still, he suffers one indignity: Just about everyone fumbles the name Sherdrick. "It happened today on a conference call with ESPN," said Bonner, whose first name is pronounced Cedric, despite its spelling.

The Arena Football League is undeniably quirky. And quite popular. The AFL enters its 20th season, quite a milestone for something many wrote off as a fad when kicks first started bouncing off nets back into play, and football was stuffed inside basketball and hockey arenas. The AFL is no longer a novelty. And as much as football fundamentalists may hate it, it's not going away. "Before, maybe one out of 10 knew what the AFL was.

ESPN and the Arena Football League have entered into an unusual five-year agreement that gives the cable network not only national TV rights to AFL games beginning in March but also a minority stake in the 19-team league. The deal, announced Tuesday, gives the home of "Monday Night Football" more of the same, albeit the indoor variety. AFL Commissioner David Baker called it the most comprehensive and longest TV rights deal in the 21-year history of the league.

The only pro football team in Los Angeles is calling it quits. After nine seasons, the L.A. Avengers are terminating their membership in the Arena Football League, team owner Casey Wasserman said Sunday. The move comes four months after the AFL voted to suspend the 2009 season to devise a new business model in hopes of restarting in 2010. That plan has not materialized, and the 16-team league is set to vote today on a new collective bargaining agreement with its players union.